Lone Tree shooting incident sparks conversation

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Jennifer Laber picked her kids up early from school on Tuesday. An hour before that, she bought a 9 mm Glock that she would use to kill herself.

Her two young sons, Ethan and Adam, also died from gunshot wounds.

"I can confirm that the gun that was found in the car was the one purchased," said Sgt. Tim Beals of the Lone Tree Police Department.

While investigators stop short of calling it a murder-suicide, family friends question if Jennifer suffered from depression.

"It is a very sad situation and we need, as a society, to make sure this doesn't happen. But how do we do that?" said Larry Nutter, a former psychotherapist.

Nutter says often times when people go in to buy guns, their mental health status is overlooked.

"If somebody has been adjudicated as mentally ill, they shouldn't be buying a firearm," Nutter said.

It's not that cut-and-dried for Tammy Spellman, owner of Springs Armory. She says sellers do pay attention to who is buying guns.

"We want to look at the mental stability of the customer that's coming in, because if they seem like they are disturbed in any way, then of course we don't want to give them a gun," Spellman said.

Spellman says if somebody comes in and clears their background check, they could leave within 15 minutes with a gun.

"There's no way I'm going to know that somebody's going to use that in a crime, just like if you sell somebody a car they're not going to know that they're going to use it to run somebody over," Spellman said.

While some states have a three-day waiting period to buy guns, Colorado does not. Regardless, Nutter doesn't think it would matter.

"If somebody is going to do this, they are likely going to do it regardless of any steps anyone takes to stop it," Nutter said.

Spellman says all she can do is hope people think seriously about their purchase.

The Lone Tree police said they aren't going to label the shootings until the toxicology report comes back.

CSFD responded to the crash on Tutt and N. Carefree in Colorado Springs Thursday. Upon arrival crews helped trapped parties and helped get three people transported to the hospital, one person in critical condition. Tutt is closed in the area, and avoid Tutt between North and South Carefree Circle.